


Till We Part

by Jupiterra



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Cheating, Complete, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Kids, M/M, Surprises, Unhappy marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 16:26:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18920725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jupiterra/pseuds/Jupiterra
Summary: Ivan and Lorenza (Female South Italy) are very unhappily married with two children. What happens next changes their worlds.





	Till We Part

Ivan's voice rattled through the house in loud Russian. It was the beginning of a storm. The house was always stormy these days, a rain on the lives of everyone that lived there. The two children cowered in their shared room, listening as they clutched each other in fear. The conversation had sparked up earlier when Ivan refused to pass the salt at dinner.

“All you had to do was pass the fucking salt!” Lorenza's Italian slurred and bounced the Russian she had come to master in six years of unhappy marriage.

“You don't need any! You're salty enough as it is!”

“You have no right! You have no right! I know you run off to that... that _child_ that runs the gas stop everyday.”

“Maybe I wouldn't have to cheat on you if you actually paid attention to my needs!” Ivan's tone hitched, obviously on the verge of tears.

“Maybe I would fuck you if you hadn't fucked over our family!” The Italian mother's voice only grew more furious through the walls, beginning to rival Ivan.

“I didn't _plan_ to get laid off at the copper mine. I still have a job! Why don't you try working instead of inhaling groceries and bitching!?”

“Who's going to watch the kids while you go out and fail at life? You shovel animal shit! How am I supposed to be proud of a man that shovels animal shit?”

“Goddamn it Lorenza, It's the best I could do!”

“ _It's not good enough!_ Nothing you've ever done is good enough!”

At this violent peak of rage, the father's voice began to crack and soften. “Then you m-might as well leave. As long as I'm with you, I'll never get better.”

There was a long stretch of silence, as the two daughters strained to listen. They even went to the bedroom door and peeked out a tiny crack. They could see the beautiful Italian dinner that had been thrown to the floor in the open concept kitchen. They swallowed, glanced to each other, then shook their ash blonde little heads. It wasn't worth crossing the war zone, even if they were hungry for Mama's homemade lasagna.

Hot red heels clacked by their limited view, Mama pulling a prepacked luggage case behind her. After a moment, the front door slammed behind her. Gravel could be heard bouncing off the windows as the family truck, the only vehicle available, peeled out of its parking space.

The girls emerged. Papa was seated at the trashed dining room table, red sauce stains on his white t-shirt. He clutched an ice pack to a bruised eye. Stray tears trailed his pale tired face as he spotted his children.

“Little angels! Papa and Mama have had a small... disagreement. I will call over the babysitter and some Chinese food. You like the Chinese food, yes?” he greeted.

“Egg rolls!” both children cheered, instantly excited. Papa smiled, his tears trickling to a stop. He was probably fine, the young children surmised. Smiles meant you were happy.

The babysitter was Alfred, a man in his early twenties. Katya and Natalia adored him, full of fun games and laughs. Papa seemed to like the babysitter even more than they did, very cuddly and friendly with the tanned blonde. Alfred was just as affectionate back, eager to do 'fake wrestling' in Papa's room with the door locked.

An hour later, six year old Katya and four year Natalia suspected Papa was not fine. He spent the entire holding Alfred and crying softly as Alfred tended to his bruising eye. Papa would fall asleep like this, looking so tired.

So very tired.

00000

At first, the girls would wait each day. Too young for school, Alfred would stay over and cook for them. They counted the cars from the porch of the one story trailer home. They would practise reciting colours of the cars. Blue was the best colour. That was the colour of papa's old truck, the one Mama raced off in.

It was hard to believe a month passed like this. With the happy green of summer and warm breezes, everything seemed so fast. Alfred with his smiles and his good night tummy kisses. They weren't Mama's, but they were nice.

Another month went by. Papa would carry them indoors every time, but the girls always walked back out to wait. He would then sigh, arm around their very long term babysitter. Still, he never stopped them, no matter how sadly he looked on.

As the canopies of trees turned gold, Katya was the first to quit. Ever since she started kindergarten, she seemed to look at their home situation more differently. She was starting to sound like the other kids in the trailer park. Mama was coming back, Natalia knew she was! She wasn't weak willed like her big sister.

So Natalia waited forever more.

The first snow fell came as Natalia kept her eyes glued to the windows. In this new world of white, her heart trembled and threatened to crack. The rest of the family was watching sesame street and completing a puzzle of kittens. Alfred, having moved in a mere three weeks ago, was helping Katya find corner pieces during commercials. He looked over to Natalia, who only spared him a cold glare.

“Nat, come play with us. You won't see Santa out there for a month and a half.” he teased playfully in bad Russian, having learned a lot from Ivan. Alfred had been their babysitter for years after all. The children even knew the gas station he worked at by memory.

“I'm not looking for Santa! I'm looking for... for...” Natalia snapped back, unable to finish her sentence. A few tears escaped her stony armour of four months. She wouldn't... she wouldn't cry! She was stronger than this.

The stubborn four year old cracked as Alfred pulled her on his lap. Rocked and petted in soothing manner, she fell apart. “Where is Mama!?” she wailed, clutching to Alfred's goofy sweater like a life line. It was actually Papa's sweater, not that he ever wore it.

“Hush now, hush... You know what?” Alfred soothed, as Ivan looked on proudly with beer in hand.

“W-w-what.” Natalia hiccuped between sobs.

“I love you. I'll always make sure you have little mittens to keep you warm. Little cupcakes for bake sales. You can count on it, okay?”

Katya and Ivan watched solemnly, fully aware they had been abandoned by Lorenza, Katya didn't dare mutter her name these days. “Really?” Natalia asked weakly, getting tired from crying.

“Yup. Even if I'm at work, you can come see me.”

At this, the young daughter sagged in relief. She was soon asleep in his arms. In this cozy trailer living room filled with photos, the family was finally one unit again.

00000

The spring came quickly after Alfred was fully adopted into Ivan's life. The children were happy too. Alfred didn't demand unrealistic living conditions, or nag him to death. He was literally the perfect soul mate, even if he was much younger than Ivan.

It was late into the evening when Ivan drove Alfred's old ford sedan. The police had called him during dinner about a rather grim subject. Alfred couldn't come, busy watching the little ones. 

That was fine. This was a matter that honestly didn't concern the handsome man. Ivan slowed as he approached a bizarre scene. It was two cop cars and a construction crane. A truck was being hauled out of the lake just off the road. The lake was actually part of an abandoned copper mine in the area, at least 80 feet deep. Ivan would know, he used to work for the company that made the damn hole.

Once parked on the dusty dirt road, Ivan walked over with hands in blue jean pockets. “That's my truck. How the hell it get in there?” he asked genially in Russian tinted English to a chubby local cop.

As the truck was finally lowered, the cop pulled his hat down to match a frown. “I'm sorry to say Mr. B, but your wife is dead. We had divers investigate before we moved the scene, and she was... in the truck with no seat belt. Judging from the wine bottles under the seat, she wasn't sober.”

“My... my Lorenza.” Ivan gasped, in seeming shock. “Are you sure? It couldn't be...”

“We're sure Mr. B. We know she was a drinker, but... for this accident to happen. I'm truly sorry.” The cop offered grimly.

“I need to see her.”

“I wouldn't recommend it, the fish have gotten to her pretty bad.”

Ivan wiped away a few tears, steadying his breathing. “I... I... can't think about this. I need to go home to my family.”

“Go right ahead, and... Everyone from the department sends their condolences. After everything you've done for the charity drives, you don't deserve this.”

“Thank you... Thank you so much for telling me, I thought she... I knew she couldn't leave me like that.” Ivan whispered. He then turned and left. Driving home to his little paradise, a broad grin snaked across his face.

No one would ever know he planted the bottles and sabotaged the brakes.

**Author's Note:**

> >:-D


End file.
